TOTAL CHAOS as Labour CANCELS debate in Parliament to SILENCE MP

We now come to the statement.Leader of the House.Thank you, Mr Speaker.With permission, I'll make a short statement to provide an update on tomorrow's business.The business for tomorrow, Wednesday the 15th of July, will now be a general debate on Iran, followed by - Order.Order.

Sorry.Leader.Sorry.

Do you want me to leave now?I am not having that shouting like that again.Are you going to answer me?Right.Okay.Apology taken.

Leader of the House.

Mr Speaker.The House will rise for the summer recess at the conclusion of business on Thursday 16 July and return on Tuesday 1 September and I will make a further business statement on Thursday.

and embarrassment for the government.Yesterday they published an emergency change to government business in order to ram the Hillsborough law through this House with no notice and an absolute minimum of scrutiny.Now they have backtracked again on their own business and cancelled the Opposition Day, which they themselves had scheduled.Now why is that, Mr Speaker?Let me read the motion that caused so much consternation in the WHIP's office and in No .10, that this House calls on the Government to bring forward a motion to change the date it adjourns to Monday 20th of July to enable the new Prime Minister to make a statement about his plans for Government.In other words, the Government changed the business, it refused even to delay the activity of this House by one day in order to permit the Prime Minister

as he will be, to take a statement and to answer questions as to his intentions and plans.The Government has a majority of more than 150, Mr Speaker, and it could not trust its MPs to vote the right way on that motion, and it could not bear the idea of a new Prime Minister facing any scrutiny before September.A Prime Minister, let me remind us all, who has been chosen by a coronation, not a contest, with no known platform, almost no known policies, and no idea of his priorities or indeed his Cabinet team.They pushed us, Mr Speaker, to take an opposition day tomorrow.They cannot bear the scrutiny and now they're cancelling it.And to do so, hiding, I'm afraid thoroughly distastefully, under the very distressing news that's happening in Iran when they could have framed a statement today from a minister or tomorrow on this issue is, I think, completely disreputable.

They're not even cancelling it, Mr Speaker, for legislation.They could have kept the Representation of the People Act.They're cancelling it for a general debate with no votes.Mr Speaker, it's the worst possible exit for a Prime Minister.The desperate attempt to create a legacy as though this could alter two solid years of failure.And it is the worst possible start.

for a new Prime Minister.People across this country will see what has happened and they will conclude that this is a man who is fricked, running scared of public scrutiny, running scared of public scrutiny before he can even take office.

Thank you Mr Speaker, if I may introduce some facts into the situation.He reads out, Mr Speaker, a motion which he tells us was to be tabled for tomorrow.I have to say it's the first I've heard of it.the words of a motion because no such motion was tabled for the Opposition tomorrow.It was not tabled for tomorrow.We did not see the words of the motion.

A decision was made on whether or not the House should debate an unfolding international crisis or not.